Lauren Weber
Appearances
WSJ What’s News
Banks Warn of Risk to U.S. Economy Because of Tariffs
So history tells us no. And for that, we can look at Trump's first term, where he also imposed tariffs on China and some other countries. Manufacturing jobs did not grow. And we actually lost jobs that time around, mainly because other countries put on retaliatory tariffs, largely on agricultural products. So we lost a lot of agricultural jobs.
WSJ What’s News
Banks Warn of Risk to U.S. Economy Because of Tariffs
Those were partially offset by subsidies that the government paid to farmers to try to keep people employed. But no, manufacturing jobs were not created.
WSJ What’s News
Banks Warn of Risk to U.S. Economy Because of Tariffs
Yeah, we've already seen some announcements that pharmaceutical makers are bringing some production back to the U.S. Products that are a little bit less complicated than, let's say, a car or an iPhone, we will see some of that return.
WSJ What’s News
Banks Warn of Risk to U.S. Economy Because of Tariffs
Now, it's possible some of those plans might have been in process long before tariffs were announced, mainly because the pandemic was such a wake-up call to companies. They needed to have supply chains where goods and raw materials were would be more available closer to the United States.
WSJ What’s News
Banks Warn of Risk to U.S. Economy Because of Tariffs
Well, this is the rub, and this is one of the confusing things about this plan. We already have labor shortages for manufacturing jobs, and the jobs are more complex than they used to be. So you actually have to have more advanced skills. Often they involve... some amount of computer knowledge or technical skills. So the answer is no, we don't have enough workers already.
WSJ What’s News
Banks Warn of Risk to U.S. Economy Because of Tariffs
Complicating that even further is the fact that manufacturers in the U.S. have long relied on an immigrant workforce. That's also becoming more challenging as border security has ramped up. Fewer immigrants are coming into this country. Employers have fewer workers to hire from.
WSJ What’s News
Banks Warn of Risk to U.S. Economy Because of Tariffs
In many ways, the solution is something that's been going on for decades for all kinds of reasons, and that is automation. So the kinds of factories that are being built or refurbished in the U.S. these days have a lot more automation than the ones that left this country in the 1970s, 1980s, 90s, when outsourcing was a big trend.
WSJ What’s News
Banks Warn of Risk to U.S. Economy Because of Tariffs
What that means is the factories need fewer workers than they would have in the past.